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- Herausgeber: BookThug
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
A tour through all the keys to understanding the phenomenon that drives young people to live intensely. Carpe Diem, the term that was coined by ancient thinkers was recycled into a philosophy encapsulated within the Internet age. YOLO is on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and in the messages circulating on Whatsapp, non-stop, twenty-four hours a day.
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Seitenzahl: 33
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015
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Inhalt
Introduction
Something Resembling a Manifest
How YOLO Looks
The Influence of the Present
Why Now?
A Rare Emergence
In Pop and Not-So-Pop Culture
An Inspiring Speech
Generations and Beliefs
Humor and Differentiation among Peers
For and Against
Do Not Regret: YOLO
Introduction
On May 31, 2013, an American teenage girl wrote on Twitter: “One #YOLO night would not be bad.” Some days later, a young Mexican man did the same: “I twit at work because #YOLO.” A teenage girl in Peru, on June 3: “Why are you so worried about what other people say? #YOLO.” And so did an Argentinean on the 28th of that same month: “what’s that YOLO thing everyone is suddenly talking about?” A simple search on Twitter’s search engine, without the need to use complex systems to analyze trends on social networks, is enough to observe the exponential birth and growth of a life philosophy that is completely installed today.
What does YOLO mean? It is the initials for “you only live once.” The idea behind the concept is that you have to enjoy every moment, live in the present, live intensely because there are no second chances and, because you cannot rewind, this is the only chance we have to be happy. And happiness is understood as enjoyment, as the pleasures of the body and the mind in the short term. It is a post-modern idea, yes, but this is not the first time it appears in history.
Without going much further, it is the same idea behind ‘Carpe Diem,’ the expression that was born with ancient Latin philosophers, but has been recycled through many centuries. We can still see it today, for example, tattooed on the skin of youngsters and adults. However, what is the difference between these two encapsulated expressions of philosophy which are universally accessible? YOLO is the daughter of its age, and her age is the age of the Internet and its movements in the hands of the majority of the population. Individual cells, that from their laptops, mobile phones, tablets and desk computers reproduce it over and over, and make it circulate through the web and turn it into a viral phenomenon.
Simultaneously, for the first time in history, the creation of meaning, of messages that circulate at the speed of bytes and inscribe it into popular imagination, depends on young generations. YOLO is no longer, as Carpe Diem might have been, a cultural phenomenon, an idea for rebels. YOLO and its pure and intense presence is on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and on the messages that circulate in Whatsapp, without interruptions, 24 hours a day. YOLO is mainstream. It cannot only be thought of as a fleeting tendency, as something that will disappear as soon as another ingenious motto appears. But it requires a deep analysis into the context of its age and the ideas, both old and new, behind it.
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Something Resembling a Manifest
The fundamental foundations behind the YOLO concept are the present, enjoyment and freedom. The first is presented as the only possibility, as the only option, because the past is over. It will never exist again and you can’t live in the past. The future does not matter, because life can be short and you have to enjoy it now. Because we are not certain that we will be able to enjoy it later. Besides, what is the purpose of worrying about something that is not here, that does not exist and that we cannot see or touch?
Enjoyment, under the umbrella of YOLO, has to do with immediate satisfactions. It is not the satisfaction you experience after finishing an undergraduate career, starting a family or writing a book. It is the satisfaction that you feel on the top of a mountain in an exotic country, a trip you paid for with the money that you decided not to save.
